Camaro...Consumer Reports worst ratings

[hightower]

Stupid ratings. Period.

[Cody6.2]

The only reports/reviews of cars that I give two shits about are ones on safety or mechanical issues. Aside from real world reliability and these concerns everything else is subjective.

It's no different than all the good movies I would've had I listened to critics opinions.

[blackswan]

CR sucks, period. I've bought their "top rated" oven and washer and dryer and all of them are about the worst products I've ever owned. The love cheap imported cars and just cheap things in general. They can bite me.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

Consumer Reports is a great car buying tool if you know nothing about cars, and care even less about them. Otherwise, don't put any stock into what they say. They lost their last shred of credibility with me when the Toyota Matrix was rated as being more reliable than the Pontiac Vibe. Problem is, the two cars are the same except for some cosmetic differences. They're built with the same mechanical bits, on the same assembly line, by the same workers. There should be no significant difference between the two. But one was a Pontiac while the other was a Toyota.


CR isn't biased due because of anything a manufacture does or doesn't do ... they're biased because they only people they use for their data collection are Consumer Reports buyers. The same ones that see certain automakers & brands get praised (to the point of getting a free pass sometimes) while others can never win. They have no way of clearing that feedback loop.

When a CR subscriber buys a car that CR says is good, they'll be less likely to report any particular problem because they want to validate the reasons they bought the car (namely, that CR said it was good). On the other hand, if CR says it was crap & they bought it anyways (which doesn't make much sense, but whatever) they won't have any problems reporting issues.

Moreover, CR has admitted that they take prior quality into account when issuing recommendations. As in the 2012 Toyota with the cheap, hard plastic interior, 4 speed transmission, buzzy, underpowered 4-cylinder, and mediocre fuel economy is being recommended over vastly superior cars just because a 1990 Toyota was indestructible.

[den318]

Any mag that doesn't praise the Camaro is biased. /thread

[fbodfather]

The survey is unscientific - simply because people who subscribe to the magazine get a 'survey' once a year-- it asks something along the lines of "Did you buy a color TV this past year? Did you experience any problems with it?"......

.......and that's what disturbs me.

now - this is me - not the company for which I work - but I had a real problem a few years back when suddenly C/U decided to 'downgrade' some toyota models. In one of their writeups, they said to the effect that they gave toyota models a recommended rating based on the history of the brand (toyota) - without the data to back it up. That's extremely disturbing to me.

further - if you go back to the time when the Chevrolet and Geo Prizm was being built - and compare it to the corolla - you'll see a wide difference - even tho they were built in the same plant in most cases - Same for Mitsubishi and the Plymouth Eclipse.......

That said - many americans see it as 'The Bible' - regardless of whether you see 'subjective' ratings or not. (...and there are many...)

[Cbrenthus]

As fbodfather said, when I've read the reviews on CR, I've always wondered how they weight it. Like, does taking a car in for a perceived noise count the same as a blown motor? And from what I can tell, yes it does.

I really don't give a crap what any mag says these days. They are all just pandering to their audiences and advertisers anyway. And to the OP, perhaps you'll be better off with a Scion

[SnowVert]

Originally Posted by 1camaro70

Consumer Reports relies on subscribers to answer their questioners, who, with a car with a 36 month warranty would have any out of pocket expenses? So that can't be it, they do test, probably didn't like seating position, but they LOVED the corvette Z06. I read their magazine to check mpg, etc. reliability is only good after warranty is over. How many Owners report that they would not buy again?

Not entirely true... having a warranty does eliminate their cost of repairs, there are other hassles and costs to consider. So it is very possible to be unhappy with a vehicle's reliability even when it is within warranty...

I will add that I am not a big fan of consumer reports though.

[greenrail]

Some of their stuff seems all over the place. What Scott says is right on target. It is based (from what I understand) on subscriber feedback.


So in essence, perhaps Camaro owners shold pony up and participate accordingly. (Perhaps "Pony" isn't the right word but then again the Camaro is a Pony Car.)

Iffin' ya gots an opinion, then voice it. Heck, the average American concumer, however undeucated about a particular subject, looks at the CR Mag as a part oftheir decision making process.

So, subscribe, and vote (or as we say in Chicago - Vote Early and Vote Often!)

[fmcooper]

I canceled my subscription a long time ago... their ratings for most things are pointless and baseless.

[Camaro54]

Consumer reports is pretty much worthless. QUOTE

That magazine is old school. Don't waste your money. Too many other up to date sources to get reviews from these days.

[Silverlsinva]

Maybe we all should subscribe and Rate the camaro how we feel about it. That its awesome!!

[ss409cid]

Originally Posted by fmcooper

I canceled my subscription a long time ago... their ratings for most things are pointless and baseless.

+1....

[maroman1138]

The same goes for Motor Trend. I stopped buying that magazine because the 1st year Camaro came out, I believe they gave it a 4 star rating and praising it like crazy (other than complaining about visibility) and this year I believe they only rated it 2 stars and really didn't have anything good to say about it and gave the Mustang & Challenger 4 stars? What a jip. They did however have some nice things to say about the ZL1 but then ended the article with basically "Until the '13 GT500 comes out". I mean c'mon. Seriously?